- Aeaea
Aeaea (sometimes Aiaia) was a possibly mythological island said to be the home of the sorceress
Circe .Though the somewhat inconsistent geography of the "
Odyssey " is more mythic than literal, Aeaea was later identified by classical Roman writers withMount Circeo on Cape Circaeum on the western coast ofItaly — about 100 kilometers south ofRome — which may have looked like an island due to the marshes and sea surrounding its base but is, in fact, a smallpeninsula . It was already a peninsula in the days of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, according to his work. However, it may have been still an island in the days ofHomer , with a long "lido " or sandy peninsula that gradually became attached to the mainland, in a common geological process.Archeologists have identified one cave or grotto on the cape as "Grotta della Maga Circe", the cave of Circe. A second was found on the nearby Island of
Ponza . It is believed that the Circe had her Summer home on Mount Circe and her Winter home on Ponza which may possibly be the island of Aeaea.Before leaving Aeaea, Odysseus was given instructions by Circe on how to travel to the
underworld :Other hypothetical locations of Aeaea
Robert Graves ("The Greek Myths") identifies the island ofLošinj near mouth of thePo River in the NorthAdriatic Sea as Aeaea.Tim Severin ("The Ulyssess Voyage") identifies the island of Paxos in theIonian Sea near the Greek coast as Aeaea.Iman Wilkens "(
Where Troy Once Stood )" identifies the island ofSchouwen at the delta formed by the riversRhine , Meuse andScheldt as Aeaea.Aeaea as epithet or surname
Aeaea was also used as a
surname for several characters in Greek mythology. [Citation
last = Schmitz
first = Leonhard
author-link =
contribution = Aeaea (1), (2) and (3)
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title =Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 23
publisher =
place = Boston
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0032.html ]Medea Aeaea, derived from Aea, the country where her fatherAeëtes ruled. [Apollonius of Rhodes , iii. 1135] It was also a surname ofCirce , who was the sister ofAeëtes . [Homer , "Odyssey " ix. 32] [Apollonius of Rhodes , iv. 559] [Virgil , "Aeneid " iii. 386] Her sonTelegonus is likewise mentioned with this surname. ["Acaeus", Propert. ii. 23. § 42] It was also a surname of Calypso, who was believed to have inhabited a small island of the name of Aeaea in the straits between Italy and Sicily. [Pomp. Mela, ii. 7] [Propert. iii. 10." 81]References
ources
*SmithDGRBM
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.